


i vow to protect what's mine

by grootmorning



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drama, F/M, Fix-It, Frank just wants to have Karen safe, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Romance, post Daredevil season 3, there is no way in hell Frank would leave Karen to be terrorized by Fisk and not be there wtf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-04 20:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16353857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grootmorning/pseuds/grootmorning
Summary: Frank returned from an extended vacation with Curtis to find seventy six messages and a hundred and forty eight missed calls from David - Fisk had been released.There was only one thought in his mind: get to Karen.





	i vow to protect what's mine

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea the time that has elapsed since wilson fisk has been released but i'm estimating a month or so until his re-incarceration yeah? let's go with that

Frank didn't really know why Curtis showed up at his door one day, claiming that they needed a break and that they were going camping. Curtis had already cleared it with Frank's work supervisor and scheduled someone to take over his sessions at the VA. "It's called being spontaneous," he yelled through the doorway as Frank packed a bag. "Come on!"

Frank grabbed a pen without looking and threw it in his direction, listening to the small thud as it bounced off Curtis' arm, "If you had given me a heads up, I would be packed, wouldn't I?"

They spent close to a month in a cabin somewhere in the woods, well equipped with running water, stocked with food, and nothing to do but rest, read, talk and hike. It was a good break away from the constant noise of city life. Frank liked it. It almost felt like he had pulled his head out from under running water and that he could see and hear clearly again. 

When Curtis had asked for his phone to turn it off and stash it in the car, Frank gave it over without a second thought. He'd only told David that he was going to be out of town and uncontactable for awhile, but not to panic. Frank would visit the moment he got back.

"I think the fresh air did you a world of good," Curtis clapped Frank on the back, hefting his backpack higher up onto his shoulder as they trekked back to the parking area.

Frank snorted a small laugh under his breath. He tugged his hoodie tighter around his face to guard against the wind, "The last time I was out in the woods, Gunner shot me in the shoulder."

"I remember, brother. I was the one who pulled it out."

"Didn't do a good job too," Frank sniffed. "The scar is huge."

"Man, shut your mouth," Curtis shoved at that particular shoulder, and the pair of them laughed good-naturedly.

Frank cleared his throat as Curtis unlocked the door, "Thanks - for uh - you know," he ended gruffly, sniffing and looking away.

Curtis smiled, choosing not to say anything. Tossing Frank his phone, he started the car before turning his own on.

The pings and beeps that started up once the phones turned on was normal. What had Curtis frowning was the first few news headlines that started flashing across the top of his screen.

Oh no.

"Frank," he tried to keep his voice calm. "Hey uh - do you wanna hand me your phone?"

"Why?" Frank's phone was taking longer to start up than his was. But it eventually came on. "Why do I have - " he brought the screen closer to his face to make sure that he was reading it right " - over a hundred missed calls and messages. Jeez, Lieberman. I told you I was going to be away."

"Frank. Wait - "

David's voice was tinny coming from the speakers, and Frank was already tapping at the buttons to bring the volume up, still busying himself with the phone and ignoring Curtis. 

_"Frank! Frank, where the hell are you! Fisk is out. Karen's writing an article about him, as she always does. Goddammit Frank, call me!"_

Curtis slammed the car into gear and sped out of the lot, bringing up the GPS map hurriedly to get them back into New York. Frank yanked at the seatbelt, jamming it into place as his heart sank like a stone. The tremors in his hand were starting again and Frank clenched his hands into fists, pressing them into his thigh to still them. It was like the month had never happened. The rushing in his ears was coming back. His trigger finger twitched against his thigh, aching for his gun. 

The last time he was face to face with Fisk, he'd promised that Fisk would not walk away again, or that he would die trying to bring him down.

The last time he was face to face with Karen, he'd left her safe with the police, with the promise that he would always come for her.

What had he done?

"Frank - "

"Curtis, your phone has the stupid news app. When was he released?"

"Frank, I'm just gonna drive us - "

"Curtis, man, please."

He knew the history that Karen had with Fisk. Her being framed for a murder and almost dying in prison. She'd picked herself back up and went straight to war with him anyway. His warrior girl. Frank's heart lifted at the thought and went through a shredder at the same time. If he knew her at all, she'd be putting herself right in the line of danger. 

He would never forgive himself if - if -

Frank shut that thought down fast.

Curtis swiped at his phone with one eye on the road, and immediately stepped harder on the accelerator, speeding down the path. "A month," he said grimly.

Frank closed his eyes and tried to keep from smashing the window.

_Karen._

-

It was already close to midnight by the time they reached the city. Curtis had tried to get Frank to call David first but Frank simply shook his head, directing him straight to Karen's apartment block. 

He needed to see her. 

He needed to make certain for himself that she was okay. 

It wouldn't matter if David had told him with absolute insistence that Karen didn't have a scratch on her and that she was safe and had always been safe. It didn't matter if ten people told him the same thing. He wouldn't believe any of them until he could reach out and touch her to make sure that she was unharmed.

A month. He'd left her for a month, with no way to contact him, without even telling her that he was going away. 

Frank was slightly ashamed that he hadn't even thought about letting her know that he was going away. After what happened at the hotel, Frank had thought it would have been better if he stayed away, worked on himself first, to become whole. The longer he stayed away, the more he convinced himself that she wouldn't care if he lived or died.

Frank knew he was an idiot.

Karen had let him put a gun to her head for him to escape. Loaded or not, that said something about her.

Deep inside, he knew full well she cared for him.

And he did for her too. He was just too much of a coward to say anything.

The big bad Punisher, scared of his own heart.

When Curtis' car pulled up outside that familiar building, Frank was out of the car in seconds, slamming the door shut. Almost like an afterthought, he looked back, reaching for the door to grab his stuff, but Curtis shook his head, "I got it. Go."

That was all he needed. Without wasting another second, Frank leapt up the stairs and was through the door instantly. The elevator was going to take too long for him not to hit something in the process so he took the few flights of stairs to her apartment as fast as he could. 

His boots sounded loud on the ground, thumping away on each step. Or was that the sound of his heartbeat in his ears? 

Frank couldn't tell.

It felt like ages before he reached her floor, when in reality barely a minute had passed. Shaking with the need to burst through her door and clear the apartment, Frank made himself knock as calmly as he could. He had no idea what the situation was. Whether she was being watched, whether she was sleeping with one eye open and a hand gripping her gun, whether she was even still ...

Putting the thought out of his mind, he knocked again. 

Still nothing.

Frank was losing his mind with worry. And if he was holding anything in his hand, he would have thrown it right now.

Breaking down the door was probably not an option. Frank didn't think Karen would be very pleased if she was fine and had to pay for repairs

Frank desperately made a quick decision, and turned back to the stairs to head to the roof. Dashing across to the fire escape and climbing down was easy. Raising her window effortlessly, he dropped down silently into her apartment.

The apartment seemed deserted and quiet. It was dark, but Frank didn't need the light to see where he was going. He'd been here before. 

He made his way into her bedroom, boots barely making a sound on the floor, so different from when he was pounding up the stairs. Frank could be stealthy when he needed to be. Crossing the doorway, Frank scanned the bedroom, and needed a minute to hold onto the doorjamb when he found it empty and the bed made. 

Karen wasn't here.

The roaring in his ears was back and the need to go out into the night and tear the city apart for her was rising in him. He needed his gear. He needed his guns.

He needed to find her.

A small sound in the apartment had him whirling around in alarm, his hackles rising. His hands were devoid of weapons, but he would use his bare fists if he had to. Frank steeled himself, and crept back out to the living room. 

What he found made his knees so weak he nearly hit the ground.

Karen was stretched out across her couch, tucked under a small afghan throw. She looked peaceful in sleep, her head pillowed on her hands and a small cushion. In his haste, he must have missed her, dark as the apartment was. Her flats were kicked under the couch. Her coat falling off the armrest.

Karen was safe. He steadied himself, taking his first real breath since he'd heard that Fisk was out.

A war raged within him. Should he wake her up to see if she was okay? For all he knew, she was mad at him for not coming when she needed him most. He had promised that night by the waterfront to keep her safe. _Safe_. All that he had read on the way here told him that she was very not safe. Frank had only made it to the part where she'd called a press conference only to be branded a liar by Fisk before he'd burst out of Curtis' car, unable to wait any longer.

In three long strides, he sank to his knees by the couch, shaking and relieved hands brushing across her blonde hair. The sound of her slow and even breaths calmed his own racing heartbeat. Frank found himself matching her, breath for breath, inhaling and exhaling until he was sure he was calm again. His hands slowly lost the tremors.

Karen was safe. Karen was whole.

Slowly, Frank tucked the throw more securely around her, pausing only when she stirred gently. 

Did he pray that she would wake, or that she would stay asleep? Frank didn't know.

But wake she did. As her eyes blinked into awareness, Karen sucked in a startled breath to scream. Frank almost threw himself backwards in order not to scare her, but her hands shot out to grasp at his shoulders, holding on tightly. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Frank?" Her voice was filled with something like hope. 

Frank felt his eyes shut at the shaky sound of her voice, and his chest felt like something was banded tight across it, squeezing hard. As Karen pulled him closer to take a second look, and her fingers pressed against his cheek, he felt the weight loosen and leave him as he sighed out a nervous breath. 

"Karen." 

His own voice was tinged with weariness and a relief so deep it felt like it was in his bones. 

Karen sat up fully, letting the afghan drop to the floor, and Frank let his head slump towards hers, pressing their foreheads together again. He knew what she was thinking of as her hands trembled around his elbows. The last time they'd been like this, they had just survived an explosion. Since then, he hadn't been very communicative. Meeting her was not safe. Being around him was not safe. 

But it seemed like she had been in even more danger away from him than with him. 

Frank cupped her jaw, his thumb stroking over her pulse to remind him that she was alive.

Karen was safe.

-

Somehow, they'd ended up sitting upright on the couch, staring into the darkness as their thighs touched. Karen had whispered to him for the past few minutes, catching him up on what had happened with Fisk getting out of prison, Matt showing up alive, her trying to get Fisk to take a swing at her. That part had him digging his fingers into his thigh, aching to pick something up and throw it. His usual reaction to a great many things. Probably not the best outlet, but it was all he had at the moment.

Karen had noticed, and had silently taken his hand, uncurling his fingers and curling them around hers before continuing to talk about how Foggy had figured out his plan.

If she felt his fingers trembling again when she talked about having the turncoat FBI agents come after her, she didn't say anything.

They lapsed into silence again after Karen had finished recounting her month long ordeal. It had taken quite awhile. Three times she had stumbled over her words - once was over the realisation that Matt was alive and how frustrated and confused she was over the fact, the second was over the FBI agent's execution, and the third was articulating how close she'd been to death confronting Fisk.

It had taken all Frank had to not tuck her into his arms and shudder at how close he'd been to losing her. But they weren't there yet, and so he didn't. In any case, it did explain why Karen was so familiar with guns, and why she hadn't run from him screaming the second time she'd encountered him in the hospital. Karen knew what it meant to take a life, during the moment when it was between yourself or the other person. She had made the choice. And come out the other side a different person.

Frank hated that she had to go through it, but in the same instant, grateful that she'd made it. Was it odd that it eased his soul? Knowing that he wasn't the only one to taint her.

Red coming back, now that was a whole different matter. He had always known the man was too stubborn to stay in the ground. But the manner of his return, that must have been tough.

Her thumb was stroking against his hand, and Frank was steadily finding it hard to concentrate on anything else. The slow rhythmic strokes were lulling him into a sense of comfort that terrified him and at the same time, made him want to hold onto her and keep her from anything outside the apartment.

"Were you - are you hurt?" his voice felt rough and hoarse. For some reason, Frank felt clearing his throat loudly would spoil the quiet bubble of space that they'd created for themselves. So he didn't. 

Karen gave a small laugh, letting her head sink onto his shoulder. His shoulders were broad, and they looked sturdy in the daylight, like Frank could hold anything up. Right now, she needed him to hold her up. "I'm okay, Frank." She'd conveniently left out the part where she had killed Kevin. That might have to be kept for another time, when she felt like she wasn't going to fall apart at the seams at the slightest gust of wind.

Frank edged closer so she would be more comfortable, "That wasn't a no."

"I guess it wasn't," Karen looked down at their joined hands, pressing her lips together tightly. 

Frank shook his head, jostling her slightly. He winced and squeezed her hand in apology, but she simply shifted her head closer, tucking her cheek next to Frank's neck. The simple movement had his breath catching in his throat. He wondered if she could hear his pulse pick up.

"'M sorry I wasn't here."

"It's not your fault," she whispered.

"But I - "

"You have a life," she continued on, her thumb returning to stroking the back of his hand. "You have people to take care of. I can't expect you to drop everything for me."

It baffled him, how much she didn't understand. His heart felt like it was going to leap out of his throat as he struggled to put his feelings into words. "But I did, I would have. I just didn't - David tried to tell me, but Curtis and I were in a cabin with no signal." Urgency tinged his words. "I would have, Karen." Didn't she see?

"What?"

"That was the first thing I did," Frank insisted. "The minute I heard what happened I made Curtis drive me straight here. I needed to make sure you were okay. And if you weren't, I would have torn this city down for you."

His openness was startling, even to himself. The Frank Castle a year ago would never have said these things. But now, the Frank Castle who had been faced with the very real possibility of losing Karen Page, twice in the span of a year, it was enough to change a man.

"What are you saying?" Her voice was just the barest of whispers in the dark. 

Frank swallowed around the lump in his throat, "You know what I'm saying."

"No," this time, she pushed up, placing a hand on his cheek to turn his face towards hers, looking at what she could in the dim light of the apartment. Karen's eyes were piercing, even through the darkness, and Frank found himself unable to look away. "You say it plainly, Frank Castle, and you say it now."

Face to face with a Karen who always wore her emotions naked on her face, Frank felt all the courage he'd ever had in the course of his life drain out of him. Give him a choice, he'd probably charge through a door with fifty hostile Afghanistan insurgents on the other side right now than be here with her. Mostly because he knew the minute he said those words, he could never take them back.

Her hand was soft against his stubbled cheek, and Frank gave in to the urge to nuzzle against it. A small pleased sigh escaped her.

Frank couldn't lose her. Not again. 

He startled her when he moved to take her face in his hands, Frank could tell. Cupping her face, Frank gazed at her as her own hands came up to rest on his, holding him in place expectantly. Nowhere else to run now but the truth. 

A few dozen different statements ran through his mind. Some he dismissed as too flowery. Others too sappy. In the end - 

"You're mine," he said simply. And that was the crux of the matter, wasn't it?

The way her face simultaneously broke into the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen and crumpled as Karen squeezed her eyes shut, nodding as she did, was doing things to his heart. In ways that he thought he was too broken for. 

In another hitched breath, Karen climbed into his lap, bringing her legs over his and pressing her face into his shoulder. Frank wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her close as she shuddered. She nodded against his warm skin, hair falling over her face. 

"I'm yours," she murmured, slipping a hand past his jacket and resting over his heart. "As you are mine." 

They stayed for a bit, content to just be next to each other with the realisation that they had all but pledged themselves to the other. It wasn't a new realisation. Karen knew that this had been building the instant she'd made the choice to get into his car and drive off to the diner. 

Knowing it was one thing, hearing it said out loud was another.

"Why were you sleeping out here, Karen?" She could hear Frank's voice rumbling through his chest since she was pressed so close. It felt nice, sounded lower than it usually was. 

The exhaustion that she'd felt went coming home was taking over again. Suddenly, Karen couldn't even remember if she'd had dinner that day. It had been a long day visiting with Nadeem's family. "Tired," Karen mumbled, wondering what it would be like to fall asleep with Frank Castle next to her.

Frank stood slowly, arranging and lifting her into his arms. His heart ached that she barely weighed anything. If he knew her at all, he knew she missed meals more often than not when buried in writing articles, pursuing leads. Shit, now that she was the official Nelson, Murdock and Page investigator, he would have to keep an eye on her a whole lot more. Hopefully, not from too far a distance. 

"You should sleep in your own bed."

"Mm, sir yes sir," Karen was already half asleep, pressing her forehead to his cheek. He snorted out a small laugh. What was he going to do with her?

Putting Karen down and tucking her into bed was easy when she was so pliant and uncomplaining. It was after that Frank hesitated, unsure what he was supposed to do now. Karen settled that for him when her hand came up, gripping onto his wrist tighter than expected from a woman almost asleep.

"Stay."

The word echoed through his mind, flashing back to when he was the one in a bed, strapped down begging for her to stay. The gravity of the situation and how far they'd come from paralegal and criminal shot through him and made him sway on his feet.

"Stay," she insisted again.

How could he say no?

Silently, he took his boots off, placing them neatly by her bedroom door where they were unlikely to trip anybody up the next morning. His jacket, he hung it up on a hook next to the wardrobe, just next to an old faded sweater. Frank pulled back the covers, sliding in next to Karen tentatively. 

Whatever other doubts he had was dispelled as she pressed closer, drawing his arms around her and sighing contentedly. Frank pressed her closer with a hand on her back, inhaling as he buried his face in her hair.

Twenty four hours ago, he was trekking through the woods like a homeless person with a backpack. If you had told him then where he would be now, Frank would have laughed in your face. Speaking of which - 

"Karen, I've been in the woods with Curtis, one working shower and only cold water for a month. I should go shower or - "

"If you leave now," the words were muffled, but Frank could swear they sounded vaguely threatening. "I will shoot you."

Well, he wasn't going to argue with that.

Karen shifted in his arms, and he loosened his grip to let her pull back. "Goodnight, Frank," Karen whispered, reaching up to press a soft kiss to his lips. 

That stilled him. It was just a brief second, but Frank felt the warmth spread throughout his entire body, all the way down to his toes. 

"Hey," he shook her a little, his voice gruff. Karen looked up at him again, the corners of her lips turning up in the smallest of smiles. Frank's heart felt like it was about three sizes too big for his chest. It was a wonder he was still able to breathe.

He leaned down to kiss her, capturing her lips gently with his. Frank Castle was made of old scars and rough calluses, but with Karen, he never knew how to be anything but soft. Frank's world righted again, his hold on her tightening as he felt her smile into the kiss.

Karen was his. That meant that from now on, she would be safe.

He made a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> frank not appearing was super unrealistic and this is the only way i can cope okay. 
> 
> tumblr: [here](http://ltfrankcastle.tumblr.com)  
> twitter: [here](http://twitter.com/ltfrankcastie)


End file.
